ACLU Pulls Support From Bail Reform Measure

Several groups that were in favor of a bail reform measure are yanking their support after a House committee amended it Monday, Feb. 15.

The first version of this proposed change to the state Constitution did two things: It allowed the court to keep dangerous felony defendants behind bars before a trial, and it let judges decide to release folks who posed no threat but couldn’t afford bail.

But Steven Robert Allen with the state’s chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union said the measure went from being crystal clear to murky at best. "The original language was so much better merely because it made it unmistakable what the intent was," he said. "The ACLU doesn’t know how this is going to be interpreted in the future."

The compromise amendment requires low-income defendants to file a motion that they can’t afford bail. Allen says it would be weird to enshrine that in the state’s Constitution, when it would usually be part of court rules and procedures.

The Legislature’s Criminal Justice Reform Committee met on Wednesday to talk about bail, among other topics. According to one speaker, the high cost of bail creates a system where people who can pay are released, while people in poverty remain behind bars.

Arthur Pepin has a lot of work in front of him. He’s the director of the Bernalillo County Criminal Justice Review Commission, a group tasked with figuring out how to decrease the population at the county jail.